Social Distancing Day 7

I really can't say that I've minded hanging out with my kiddos in the house all week. I've gotten out daily to take supplies to friends' porches or grab groceries for my mom or grabbing another bag of small crickets for Spaz. I have a container of clorox wipes and a bottle of hand sanitizer in my car for when I DO have to go out, but I have a feeling soon we'll only be limited to grocery store trips.

My kids are at really good ages for doing school at home. Jocelyn is in 2nd grade and that's a review year. She's flying through her math, reading, science, and social studies worksheets. For reading, we have started the first book in the Harry Potter series (which means she's my favorite child right now!)

Jayce is a 9th grader in HS, so he's on block scheduling. This semester he has English 1 (currently reading To Kill a Mockingbird), Physical Science (which he loves!), Chorus, and PE. He's recorded his chorus song and logged his daily activity for PE. He's pretty good about keeping up with his classes.

Jaina is in the 2nd semester of community college. She was taking two online classes and two classes at the campus. Now all of her classes are online, but she's doing well keeping up with everything.

As for me, no major cleaning projects done, yet, but I have caught up on laundry, vacuuming, and dishes. I was able to shoot 5 mini sessions (practicing social distancing the entire time), so now I'm editing those. This will be the last of the photography income for quite some time.

Here's a few pictures from the week:

Jocelyn cleaned off her dresser for the first time in 6 months!

School at home on the bed:

Shaggy is LOVING all the walks.

An outside art project is making the rounds on IG, so we decided to jump on the bandwagon. We had so much fun!

Homework while eating Ben and Jerry's...

Want potatoes?? This is what the grocery store looks like at 7 AM after getting a truck the night before. Luckily my friend Shannon got me some last week.

I sent Jayce downstairs and told him he couldn't go back on his computer until he took a shower. He never came back up! Found him watching My Little Pony Equestria Girls with both his sisters! They all love the second movie.

There's been a lot of art going on around here:

So, that's our update. The kids aren't taking this virus seriously and I'm being overly paranoid for them. I'm trying not to let my anxiety get the best of me.

2020 :: A New Year and a Fresh (germy!) Start

Quarantine  Day 2:

Is it really a quarantine if we aren't sick? Should I be calling it voluntary isolation? Either way, I find myself home with my kids once again. Honestly? I am loving it.

Ask me again in two weeks when I don't get a paycheck if I'm still liking it.

We've had a great day. I made rainbow pancakes after seeing it come up on my TimeHop app 7 years ago. I feel like I was a fun and creative mom back then and sometimes Jocelyn gets the shaft. I'm old and tired and busy now. I hope to make fun memories during this time home.

Jaina went to work at Delaney's Irish Pub. I assumed they'd be super busy (hello, St. Patrick's Day!), especially since our SC Governor announced the closure on all restaurants by tomorrow morning. However, it seems as though people here are actually taking the suggestion of social distancing seriously. The Irish pub was pretty much dead and she got sent home early. I'm not upset at all. I want my kids home and safe. I'm not worried about us getting sick. Instead, I'm worried about us being part of the pandemic by passing it along.

I did have to go out today, though. Jocelyn and I went to her elementary school to pick up her Distance Learning packet. Then we took our trash to the dump (How long will it stay open??) Then we returned books to our library that closed down at 3 PM. This isolation is much better than being stuck in bed with a broken ankle!

Anyway, back to catching up...

January 1st, 2020 was the first day I woke up without Brian in our house. It felt good, like a weight had been lifted. The kids felt it, too. Jaina opened up all the blinds in the house just because she could :)

Jocelyn and I went to Chimney Rock State Park.

Brian and I had a temporary settlement conference on Jan 10th to decide who gets to reside in the house (me), who gets primary custody of the kids (me) and how much child support and alimony he will pay each month. It took 3.5 hours. I had nothing to do except stare at this bottle of Diet Dr Pepper and play Cookie Jam on my phone.

Brian moved his desk out and Jayce got a new one!

The kids and I went to see Weathering With You in Greenville. A limited release japanese anime. It was amazing.

Jaina and I went couch shopping since Brian took our brown one (THANK GOD! I hate that couch.)

Jocelyn took this photo on the way to school. I have a huge print of it hanging up in our living room.

Another cheer season started.

Jaina got a snake last year. His name is Mango. We call him Baby. He is an Albino Honduran Milk Snake.

Our couch came home! We love it!

Then we celebrated Jocelyn's 8th birthday at Hearts of Clay!

This is Spaz. I caved and let Jaina get a bearded dragon to put in the playroom. I love this little guy so much!

It snowed! And no one cared but me!

The coffee table wouldn't fit (which is okay because Spaz's tank is now on top of it), so I bought an ottoman with a serving tray.

We celebrated Grandma's 75th birthday!

We also visited our friend Mila in North Carolina.

And hung out with our friend Sydney!

More Cheer pics!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Festivus was also disguised as Patty's 50th birthday party!

And most recently, we found out that Mila and Cruise will be moving back to Spartanburg! YAY!

Which brings us to current day. I'm so glad we got to hang out with friends last week and go to Happy Hour with MOMS Club and see all my friends at Book Club. All that is in the past with the current Corona Virus situation. We are hoping the US won't be like China or Italy with the widespread cases. Hopefully social distancing will flatten the curve.

More tomorrow!

What a Year Its Been!

I'm still not ready to retire this old blog. Since the entire world is now under quarantine (well, we're calling it "social distancing"), now is the perfect time to resurrect this space.

A lot has happened since I last posted in April, 2019.

A lot.

Let's see if I can review in pictures from my old Google Photo account...

First up, we celebrated Easter. It was pretty low key. We had fun decorating eggs like we always do. My little artists!

I was still a 2 day a week toddler teacher at The Weekday School.

On days I wasn't working, I'd have lunch with Jocelyn and her friends in Mrs. Scherbarth's 1st grade class.

Then I was a chaperone for Jayce's chorus trip to Dollywood.

The next weekend was Spring Fling and the last "normal" day I'd have in 2019. 

The next day, April 28th, I was helping Jayce set up an impromptu birthday party at McMillan Park when I slipped on acorns and dislocated my ankle. It was broken in three places, called a trimalleolar fracture and it required surgery.

While I was in the ER, I was telling all the doctors and nurses about JLC's newest album, Sparrow! Don't worry, they asked after they saw my shirt!

The next day, Brian drove halfway across the state to pick up Cordelia, who used to belong to Uncle Frank in Upstate NY.

I had surgery on April 30th. They put a nerve block in. I felt very little pain because of it!

Shaggy kept me company:

The entire month of May went by very very slowly. I was non-weight bearing the entire month. I couldn't stand to put my foot down below my heart, so I couldn't drive, either. Or edit pictures.

Jocelyn tried to make my Mother's Day special despite my disability.

Jaina helped me hobble outside and down the stairs on crutches in order to sit down and take graduation photos of her. This was NOT the one we used, lol.

Monica and Brian took Jocelyn to the rest of her Spring Cheerleading events.

I had an appointment on the same day as field day, so I used a wheel chair to get down to the field on the way to the doctor's appointment.

This is what my ankle looked like after surgery:

I traded my cast for a boot:

But I still couldn't walk on it :(
I had to miss Jocelyn's tumbling recital.

And I had to watch Jaina's graduation on a live stream on YouTube.

I was having vascular problems and ended up having to see a vascular surgeon. Luckily, the problem went away on its own a month later.

Brian drove us all to the beach anyway. It wasn't the best vacation. Things between Brian and were VERY strained due to his frustration with taking care of me and having to help the kids. The kids missed me and didn't feel like doing much at Pawley's Island this year.

I managed to get to the pool twice. The water felt SO good!

But my foot was *still* turning purple. 

4th of July was a strained event for me and Brian. We went down to our neighbor's house for a party. 

Then the kids and I celebrated Cow Appreciation Day:

And MORE purple foot....

But then I was finally released to drive!

I got compression socks that were supposed to help, but it actually made the blood flow worse.

But I managed to drive 12 hours to southern Florida anyway. We took a LOT of breaks!

The morning we left for Florida, on August 3rd, my world came crashing down. I had discovered that my husband of 15 years had been lying to me for the past 2 and a half years. I left South Carolina not sure what was going to happen to our marriage. We decided to take this time a part to think about things.

Florida was exactly what I needed. My foot stopped turning purple and I was getting stronger every day. Brian and I talked and realized that our marriage was over because he was not willing to rectify his actions that hurt me and I was no longer willing to put up with them.

But life moved on... it was time for Cheer camp and the first day of school to start.

I was hired back at The Weekday School as a toddler teacher for 3 days a week. I was scheduled for Physical Therapy the other two days a week.

The first weekend in Sept, we moved my mom to Boiling Springs.

Brian hosted a Labor Day party at our house and was surprised when I didn't even go. I got there right before fire works.  Even though we both knew our relationship was over, he was hoping to just live as roommates and not spend the money getting divorced.

Jocelyn tried her hand at BSYAA cheer for the first time. It was hard core! Lots of practices and games each week! And boy was it HOT!

Jocelyn has a new 2nd grade best friend named Kayla!

I graduated from physical therapy right before Halloween.

Jaina and I went to her first concert: Melanie Martinez

Jocelyn was a Devil Kitty for Halloween.  And then a Devil Dog. She couldn't choose.

We had Fall family pictures made for the first time without Brian.

For my birthday, we had Thanksgiving dinner at our house without Brian, too.

I then went to ATL to meet up with some friends to see DAYROOM!!

 
I also said goodbye to my childhood home in Tucker, GA. My stepmom and sister moved to Delaware, so it was on the market.

Then I went to Columbia to see JLC perform Licorice Tea Demos and Magazine in it's entirety.

A few days later, I got to chaperone Jocelyn's field trip!

Then Jayce got to see JLC with me in Greenville. We had SO much fun!

Jayce had to come with me to the preschool one morning. The kids loved him!

I filed for divorce on Dec. 3rd. Brian started making plans to move out after Christmas.

The WDS took us to lunch for Christmas. I love my co-teachers!

Then it was time for Jocelyn's 2nd grade Christmas program.

And then the class Christmas party!

Unfortunately, Jocelyn came down with the Flu, type B the night we got home from the last 1/2 day of school.

Jocelyn was sick almost the entire Christmas break from school :( The big kids and my mom and I decided to eat at Delaney's for Christmas dinner instead of cooking. New tradition!

Two days later, Jayce and I went down to Charleston to see JLC again. Yes, I know, we saw them A LOT in a month, but since it was such a rough month at home with Brian, it was definitely a needed distraction.

Farrell was in ATL from Germany so she flew to Charleston to meet us!

Jayce got to go back stage and help Chris pack up his recording equipment!

New Years Eve was another strained holiday. At first, Brian was going to go and I was going to stay home with the kids. But then our hosts said they'd rather me go and bring the kids, so I asked Brian not to go. He came anyway and crashed the party while I was driving to pick up Jaina from work that night. I was so disappointed that my friends thought I wouldn't mind. I don't want people to have to choose between us, but I do expect them to honor my wishes that I am not around Brian unless I absolutely have to be.

I started 2020 surrounded by my kids and a promise to them that we'd start fresh this year. Our family looks different now, but it's so much better for all of us. More to come on that next time.